God's Zeal for His Glory | Sermon 12/26/2021

Soli Deo Gloria and the Upcoming Sermon Schedule

We are going to be studying Soli Deo Gloria to the glory of God alone. This is the last one. We're going to be in Isaiah 48, just starting out. It's kind of one of those topical ones that we're going to be a little bit all over.

If you need a scripture reference later, references, I could give you a list after the fact. After this Sunday with Soli Deo Gloria, next week on January 2nd, I'm going to be preaching a sermon. I think this is where I think the Lord has really been, you know, pressing upon my heart and my daily devotion.

We're going to be, I think, doing a sermon out of Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. And I think it's really going to be a sermon for 2022. Kind of our hope as church leaders, you know, basically a desire for us to grow in unity, in the bonds of peace.

A desire for us to grow individually in Christ. And a desire for us to grow the kingdom of God by seeing God convert many lost souls in our city. So I'm thinking that's maybe going to be what I preach on next week.

And then on the 9th, two weeks from today, our favorite deacon and only deacon, Andrew is going to be preaching. Because during the week I'm going to go with my family to Arizona and visit my folks real quick.

It's been about five months since we've seen them. So I'll be gone during that week. So he'll be preaching on the 9th. And then maybe something special on the 16th. And then we're going to start our first official expository sermon series in the book of James.

The book of James. So I have all these. I've got a stack of resources that I'm pouring through and studying right now to prepare for that. So anyways, I want to give you an update on what to expect over the next few weeks.

Isaiah 48 and the Glory of God in the Old Testament

But if you would, please again turn to Isaiah 48, starting in verse 9. Hear now the words of the living and true God. For the sake of my name, I delay my wrath. And for my praise, I restrain it for you, in order not to cut you off.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, I will act. For how can my name be profaned in my glory? I will not give to another. Thus ending the reading of God's holy word.

Let's pray quickly. Lord, please illuminate the scriptures today for me and your people. Lord, teach us, Lord. Speak through me, Lord, as a vessel. God, that you may edify and grow your people today. Lord, it is our great desire that in this sermon we would learn so much more deeply how glorious you truly are, Lord.

And how magnificent it is that you are zealous for your own glory. So God, help me to speak in a way that is clear, helpful, and true today. I pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. And that's the title of the sermon today.

The title is, God's Zeal for His Glory. God's Zeal for His Glory. So, soli deo gloria, to the glory of God alone. The German composer and musician Johann Sebastian Bach knew that all the music he wrote was a mere reflection of the glory of God.

And that all music should be made to the glory of God. That's why he would write SDG at the bottom of every manuscript and composition that he wrote. Bach. For soli deo gloria. This Latin phrase and doctrine, born out of the Protestant Reformation, is very much intertwined with the doctrine of salvation.

That doctrine that was, of course, rediscovered in the Word of God, in Sola Fide, in Sola Gratia, in Solus Christus. We've been learning that God is the one who justifies. He is the one who gave His Son.

He is the one who gives saving faith and imparts belief to the unbelieving. He is the one who graciously predestines and calls us to salvation. That's what we've been learning. Every link of that golden chain of redemption was rocked and carried out by God.

For this reason, the Apostle Paul says in many areas of his epistle to the Romans and in other letters, that man cannot boast. Man cannot boast. Only God can boast. There is no room for the glory of man in God's plan of salvation.

None. The glory is His alone. In Ephesians 1, there's a long discourse. Actually, Paul is famous for his long run-on sentences, and Ephesians 1 is no exception. There's a long discourse there on how God has lavished us with His grace in Christ.

It highlights God as the one who made this plan and gave us this inheritance. And multiple times it says that it's all to the praise of His glory. To the praise of God's glory. But what is God's glory?

What is God's glory? The Bible demonstrates that God is essentially invisible. But there are many ways that He has shown Himself visible, and one way is through His glory. Let me explain. In the New Testament, the Greek word is doxa.

What do we sing at the end of every service? Doxology, right? Doxology. Doxology means word of praise or word of glory, right? In the Old Testament... I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just want to make sure. Doxa, real quick, shows up 166 times in the New Testament.

Just wanted you to know that. In the Old Testament, though, the word for glory is kabod in Hebrew. Its root word means heavy or weighty. Therefore pointing to things like honor, majesty, and more precisely glory.

Kabod. And kabod appears 200 times in the Old Testament. That's 366 times in the Bible in total. And I was so tempted to be like, and we're going to do a series where we're going to talk about... Each day of the year, glory is there.

366, even for leap year. But I'm not that kind of preacher, so we'll just move on from that. But it is interesting. 366 times. I could see how someone could run with that. It has... I can't... I'm sorry.

God's glory. Let me start there. Trying to define or articulate it is nearly impossible. Nearly impossible. I just tried to and that's what happened. It's like when someone says, define beauty. What do you do?

Define beauty. You start describing a sunset or you describe the ocean or you describe some beautiful landscape or something like that. And that's not describing beauty. That's describing those objects, those things.

That's not how you describe beauty. God's glory though is radiance. It's brilliance. It's light. His glory ought to provoke terror, astonishment, humility, reverence, and fear. His glory is pure splendor.

One commentator defines the glory of God and he admits it's simply just an attempt as the infinite beauty and greatness of God's manifold perfections. One of the ways God has shown His glory is in theophanies.

A theophany is a visible manifestation of God to mankind. We briefly, if you might remember, talked about Christophanies in the high priest sermon on Melchizedek, the pre-incarnate Christ. We talked about that.

There are many theophanies in Genesis but one of the most notable theophanies was in Exodus 3. The Lord appeared in a blazing fire in the midst of a bush and that bush was not consumed. This is where He states to Moses that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

That Moses is to tell His people that His name is I Am. The glory of God was then in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, guiding the Israelites. Later in chapter 24 when the people affirm their covenant with God it says,.

Then Moses went up to the mountain and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it for six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop. Once again the glory of God is manifested then we see in a cloud and fire. Cloud and fire.

Possibly even a brilliant shining cloud. So after the golden calf is made Moses goes back up to the mountain to intercede for the people because they had just made an idol. And he needs to go to God and say don't kill them.

I know you just saved us from slavery but don't kill us because of the idol we just made. So Moses intercedes for the people and it says in Exodus 33,. Then Moses said, I pray you show me your glory. He asked that of God.

He says, I pray you would show me your glory. And God says, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.

But God said you cannot see my face for no man can see me and live. Moses wants to see God's glory. God essentially tells him if you saw my full glory you'd be dead. We are later told when Moses comes back down from the mountain his face is shining.

Just glowing, emanating this glory from God. The sons of Israel it says were afraid to come near him. The radiance of God's glory shone from his face. He would then have to wear a veil over his face in front of them.

In front of the Israelites. When they finished the tabernacle and offered the sacrifice. This is later on. When they finished the tabernacle and it was time for the first sacrifice. It says the glory of God appeared and it was like a cloud that filled the whole tabernacle.

And none of them could be inside it lest they die. Because it was so holy and so glorious. There in the most holy place. And when the people would pass by the tent of meeting. They would kind of be able to see the entrance of the tabernacle.

And they would see just this brilliant light emanating from the tabernacle. And it makes sense too because if you remember the diagram that I gave you guys. That little print out of the tabernacle. There was only one single light in that whole tent.

There was three sections, right? The first part. You have the first part, the courtyard. You have the holy place. And then the holy of holies. And in that tent there was just the menorah, the lamp stand.

And so the idea is that the glory of God would shine through this whole place. There didn't need to be any LEDs or anything like that. God's glory would shine through. Jewish rabbis would call these appearances the Shekinah glory.

Shekinah means he caused to dwell. Pointing to a divine visitation of the presence of the Lord on earth. When Solomon finished his prayer of dedication to the newly built temple. Everyone saw fire come down from heaven.

I mean he had just finished this magnificent prayer. Dedicating the temple behind him to the Lord God Almighty. And as soon as he finishes that prayer. Fire flows down straight from heaven to consecrate the temple.

Just brilliant. Brilliant. Everyone saw it. It says the glory of the Lord filled his house. That's what it said. That's what it said of the fire. The glory of the Lord filled his house. In Ezekiel's vision of the Lord's heavenly dwelling.

He saw coals of fire. Bright fires. Lightning flashes. I mean how does a regular finite human. Articulate or explain what he's seeing in those moments. You can only imagine. There appeared also if there was colored gems of great brilliance.

There was an expanse over the throne. And the throne he said was shining like sapphire. The whole throne was like a blue, vibrant, shining, brilliant throne. And upon that throne he says was the divine presence.

There was God. And he said it looked like there was literally fire all around him. That's what he said. There was fire all around God. A radiance that confirms what Paul says in 1 Timothy. God dwells in unapproachable light.

God dwells in unapproachable light. Ezekiel could barely describe what he was seeing. The radiance he said was also like a rainbow. He just goes on and on. It's like vibrant colors. It's like a rainbow in the sky.

And he goes, such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it I fell on my face. How can one describe it? One can barely look directly at the sun in the sky. And yet God made that sun.

God made that sun. It says in the new creation his glory will light up the whole world. And the sun won't be necessary anymore. And yet according to the scriptures there are many ways that God's glory is manifest and seen for us today.

Our catechism says the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I want us to consider today how is God glorified? That's what we're going to do. And we're going to do that chiefly by answering five questions.

Here are the five questions we need to answer concerning the glory of God today. Number one, how does God glorify himself? How does God glorify himself? Number two, how does mankind generally glorify God?

How does mankind glorify God? Number three, how does Christ glorify the Father? Number four, how does the church glorify God, Christians, us? How do we glorify God? And number five, how do Christians enjoy him forever?

Because of that. Again, we will reference many biblical texts. Let's go ahead and start with question one. Let's answer these questions from the word of God. How does God glorify himself? Well, let me first say that God's chief end is to glorify himself.

Glorify himself, not us. He is supremely concerned and out for his own glory. Now, there has been many in the church, many in other churches, other denominations especially, who are uncomfortable with this kind of truth.

Why would God be zealous for his own glory? Isn't that selfish? Doesn't he say the exalted will be humbled? But we're talking about different categories here. This is the God of the universe. We are merely creatures.

God is impeccable, meaning perfect. He is perfect. He is the only one who can be so righteously for his own self-exaltation. We do it for prideful reasons. And that's the thing. We don't like when people are self-exalting or looking to make themselves known.

We don't like that. We don't like the know-it-all guy who has an answer for everything. We are often repelled by what I call one-uppers. Everyone knows the one-uppers in your life. Pray for them. People who hear your story, they give no acknowledgement to your story.

They give no feedback or no affirmation. Wow, wow. They don't give you anything. And they just go straight to a similar story from their ever-expanding personal storybook bank. And it is always better than yours.

It is always a better story than yours. And they always end up being somehow the hero of that story. That's the one-upper. We want to engage, though, with authentic people, down-to-earth people who know any greatness that they possess is merely a derivative of the greatness and the glory of God.

Here's the thing, though. God's very nature commands our praise, commands us to glorify Him. Everything points back to Him. Romans 11 verse 36 says, For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

To Him be the glory forever. He doesn't need us to glorify Him. For in, from, to, and through Him are all things. This is what's called God's aseity. This is a doctrine, this is an attribute of God, God's aseity.

This doctrine is derived also from God's name when He says, I am who I am. Or it can be translated, I will be that I will be. It can also be translated that way, God's name. It means God needs nothing outside of Himself for Himself to be God.

Or sustain as God. It is a self-sufficiency, self-existence, or independence of God. In other words, God doesn't need us to glorify Him. He doesn't need our glory. He's not desiring it so much so like we desire things.

His passion for His glory is not desperate due to some sort of deficiency He has. God has no deficiency. He doesn't need our praise or our glory. He is self-sufficient in that way. One pastor puts it this way, okay?

Because God is unique as the most glorious of all beings and totally self-sufficient, He must be for Himself in order to be for us. If He were to abandon the goal of His own self-exaltation, we would be the ones to suffer.

If He abandoned His goal of self-exaltation, we would be the ones to suffer. If God were to decree and do all that He does for the supreme and ultimate reason to please us, He would be abdicating His divine role and rejecting His greatest pleasures and will.

And it would affect us in the end. Needless to say, I think it's impossible for God to do that due to His nature. So let us consider that God first glorifies Himself in Himself. Psalm 115 says,. Here the psalmist recognizes the importance for the Lord to give His name glory.

By giving His name glory, the people of God will experience His loving-kindness and receive His truth. Jesus says something similar when He entered into Jerusalem. He said, Father, glorify Your name.

Then a voice came out of heaven, it says, that sounded to some like thunder, and it boomed, and God the Father said, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. When God glorifies Himself, it impacts everyone and everything else.

Consider the passage that we read at the beginning before we prayed, Isaiah 48, 9 -11. We saw that basically God is all for Himself, for His own sake. For God's own sake, He defers His anger, and yet the result is that they are not cut off.

Do you see that? God is out for His own sake, and then the by-product is that they are not cut off. They are not cut off. He refines the Judeans in fires of affliction, that they may repent and turn to the one and only God.

He can't let any other nation think that their gods, their false gods made of wood and stone, have done anything to defeat Him or His people. He can't let that happen. He is the one who sovereignly sends His people into exile, into Babylon.

Babylon thinks, we won, we got them. It's like, you only got to do that because God ordained that you do that. He will not give His glory to anyone or anything else. He says, My namesake, My praise, My own sake, My name, My glory.

That's all in that verse. His glory is His objective. God also glorifies Himself through the creation. What does creation shout from every mountaintop, every inch of seafloor, and from every planet that is whirling by at high speed?

It says the heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. From the heavens to everything that is underneath, nothing that has been made has been made by anyone else than God.

It's His handiwork. He gets the credit. God has made it evident to all men that this is not mere chance. One scientist casually sat down and this scientist said, Well, the probability of the universe coming into existence is probably about one in a trillion trillions.

One in a trillion trillions, that's what he says. But we know based off of God's word that His decree is certain. It happened. There are no variables. And all of it is to give Him glory. The heavens aren't the glory or the origin of the glory, okay?

Pagans throughout history have worshipped the sun, the moon, and the stars and planets. To this day, people worship the created over the creator. But how much greater is the one who made that thing? It's like my daughter loves Legos.

We got tons for her for Christmas. And she already followed the directions and made this sweet-looking castle and stuff. And when my daughter comes to me with a castle that she just built and made, I don't look at the castle and go, Wow, castle, you did a good job.

Castle, you really came together. I give my daughter the praise. I go, Wow, Bella, you did such a great job. You built that really well. You really followed everything to the T. That looks great. We don't look at the things she made and praise that.

We praise our children for what they made, the artwork that Junior brings right in front of your face, like this close to your face. We praise God for what He's made. We don't praise the things that are made.

How much more magnificent is the builder seeing what came forth from him? Do you know what is one of the most amazing sections of Scripture? You need to read this with your family tonight if you haven't read in a while.

In Job 38 and 39, read Job 38 and 39, when God answers back to poor old Job. Here's a few sections from it. God says to Job, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you are the one with understanding.

Who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Or who enclosed the sea with doors when bursting forth it went out from the womb? When I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it and set to bolt and doors, and I said, Thus far you shall come and no farther.

And here your proud waves are stopped. Have you ever in your life commanded the morning and caused the dawn to know its place? Have you entered the storehouses of snow? Or have you seen the storehouses of hail?

Who has cleft a channel for the flood or the way for the thunderbolt to bring rain on a land without people, on a desert without a man even in it, to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the seeds of the grass to sprout?

And it just goes on and on like that. It's so glorious. There can be no doubt, brothers and sisters, God is glorified in His creation. Our second question is, how does mankind glorify God? Of course, mankind is part of God's creation.

I understand that. But as we've talked about before, man is what the Scriptures show to be the pinnacle of God's creation. He made man and woman special. Made in what I've called the imago dei, the image and likeness of God.

God puts it this way in Isaiah 43. He says, Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory. Whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

And yet we know that not everyone is called or given the title of son or daughter. That shows us God is glorified by mankind in two ways. God is glorified by mankind in two ways. By the administering of both justice and mercy upon mankind.

Administering justice upon the wicked and demonstrating grace to the undeserving sinner elected to salvation. The Lord is glorified by mankind in His justice when it says He raised Pharaoh up that the Lord might show His power in the Egyptian king.

God's aim is that afterwards all the world would proclaim His name after He saves His people from Egypt. In Exodus 14 it says, And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And He says it again,. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and horsemen. So the Lord will punish Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the slavery of His people and for their worship of false gods.

Like when a man who has committed a horrible crime, maybe he's a serial killer or something like that, and he finally receives a guilty verdict and will pay the penalty, everyone in the courtroom takes a breath and praises God for justice.

Honestly, praises God for justice. No doubt we pray for the salvation of the wicked and the criminal, right? But God has put a desire in us for justice and restitution. And in that, He has the glory. What about King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon when he reflects and looks upon Babylon?

And this is what Nebuchadnezzar says. I can imagine he's on this terrace or balcony of his palace and he's looking at the kingdom of Babylon and he says, Is this not Babylon the Great which I Myself have built by the might of My power and for the glory of My majesty?

Don't do it, man. Don't even say it. Those are fighting words right there, right? You can't contend with the Almighty. You just can't. It says in Daniel 4, while the very words were coming out of His mouth, a voice from Heaven boomed and declared, King Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom has been removed from you and you will be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field.

Are you going to act like a beast? You're going to be turned into a beast. You will be given grass to eat like cattle and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows on it whomever He wishes.

And so, all that God had said came to pass and the king, of course, tried to exalt himself above God and he was humbled. Then it says, but at the end of the period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes towards Heaven and my reason returned to me and I blessed the Most High God and praised and honored Him who lives forever for His dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, what have you done?

Even in the midst of God's people's captivity, the Lord God made His people's enemy who worshiped false gods to recognize that there is only one true God. I mean, this is a cruel man, Nebuchadnezzar. This is a wicked man done atrocious deeds and he was humbled to the point where out of his very mouth this pagan king could say that there's one God and He controls everything and He determines who gets what and who gets the power from the kingdom.

He was truly humbled. God was glorified in the punishment of this man. What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory even us whom He also called not from among Jews only, but from among the Gentiles also.

That's Romans 9. Romans 9. When He demonstrates His wrath on vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, it makes His power known. It makes His power known. God is out for His own glory and that brings Him glory.

But here's the amazing thing. He says He displays His wrath so that all will see the glory displayed in Him when He gives mercy. That's what it said. The mercy is seen in light of the wrath. That's what the text says.

It seems in His sovereign decree the mercy next to the awfulness of wrath is more glorious. The Gospel next to the law is much more glorious if the law were not there. The resurrected Christ next to death and the grave is the most glorious thing there is.

He says in Isaiah 43, 25, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and I will not remember your sins. He does it for Himself. The mercy He gives us is for Him and His own sake, His own glory.

Does that mean He grants us mercy in a simply transactional sort of way? No, I don't think so. I don't think so. He still in that mercy displays His love and His kindness for us in the process of Him glorifying Himself in the mercy.

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Again, this is why God does it all. He chose, He predestined, He adopted us all to the praise of His glorious grace. When a sinner is saved, when the lost is found, all of heaven rejoices not for our sake.

All of heaven rejoices not for our sake. They don't look down and the heavenly host goes, oh, I'm so glad for Wade right there. He really needed to be saved. When God saves a sinner, the heavenly hosts go, worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

Worthy are you to receive glory and honor and power. Oh, living God. They praise God when He saves sinners. Right? That's what we see. That's what we see. When He regenerates us, the right response is praise.

Giving God the glory again is not giving Him something He doesn't have. He needs nothing outside of Himself. It is a recognition of His glory and directing praise towards the King. Other texts show God saying, I am about to act for the sake of my holy name.

Or He exalts Himself to be gracious to you. Through administering justice and mercy, mankind brings God glory. That's the answer to the question. The next question we have, number three, is how does Christ glorify the Father?

How does Christ glorify the Father? Glory has quite literally come down from heaven and took on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the one in whom the glory of God has shined in our hearts.

The Scriptures say Jesus Christ is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of the Father's nature. Jesus is the very glory of God. Remember how I said in the tabernacle after they consecrated, the cloud of the glory of God appeared in the most holy place?

Well, here's the amazing thing. In John 1, verse 14, it says, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. But the correct translation for dwelt is tabernacled. Tabernacled among us. And what does it say right after that in verse 14?

It says, And we saw His glory. So before, no one could go into the most holy place and see the cloud of glory and to see God's presence. But now, Jesus, literally glory embodied, has tabernacled among us and you can see the glory of God now.

You couldn't see it before, but now you see the glory of God in Jesus Christ. This isn't the cloud anymore. We see the glory as of the one and only Son of the Father. And let it be known, Jesus is not created glory.

Jesus is not reflected glory. Jesus is the eternal glory of God. Remember, shekinah means dwelling. Jesus is the shekinah glory on earth. How about the Mount of Transfiguration? The apostles saw the unveiled glory of Christ.

And it says, His face shone like the sun and His garments became as white as light. And Peter is almost giddy. I don't know if he kind of forgets who Jesus is, but he's almost giddy. And he said, Hey, this is pretty good that we're here.

What if we built three tabernacles? One for you, one for Elijah, one for Moses. And he's all excited. And what happens? What happens? It says, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. The Father speaks from heaven.

And He says, Listen to My Son. And they were jolted out of their wonder and amazement. It says that they fell on their faces and were terrified. All appropriate responses. The glory of Christ should cause excitement and amazement.

This time God's glory would not be restricted to a tent or a tabernacle or temple. The glory of God in Christ is to fill the whole earth now. And yet in Christ's humility, He showed Himself to be an instrument to bring the Father glory.

He sought the glory of the Father in all He did in His earthly ministry. John 7 verse 16 through 18 reads,. So Jesus answered them and said, My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching whether it is from God or whether I speak for Myself.